Hudson Cinema nearing switch to digital movies

Thanks to an anonymous lender and the generosity of the community, a campaign to raise enough money to keep the Hudson Cinema open in the digital age is approaching its final stages.

Rob and Heather Hall own the two-screen movie theater along Main Street in Hudson, a business that has been threatened with becoming obsolete since movie producers announced earlier this year they would stop sending out film versions of movies.

The Hudson Cinema uses a film projector, and the cost to convert a single screen to digital is approximately $45,000, Heather Hall said. As of Thursday, they only need $3,500 more to update their equipment and remain open.

An anonymous member of the community has loaned the Halls $20,000 with low-interest payback terms, while 95 percent of those who made pledges through a fundraiser website have made good on their donations, Hall said. A traditional loan for the equipment would have surpassed the cinema’s current profits, she added.

Hall said she and her family, who all play a role in the management of the theater, have relied on their faith to see them through the times when they were facing a potential business-killing situation.

“We are thankful for God’s blessings despite the perceived setbacks,” Hall said. “We are also overwhelmed by the generosity of the lender. We see the Lord working through this person.”

The family has owned the Hudson Cinema for eight years.

Hall said the conversion to digital was inevitable, but it came up more quickly than expected.

“When we first opened, we kept hearing from distributors, ‘We’re going to go digital, we’re going to go digital,’ ” she said.

“And then this year, when it really happened, it was panic time,” Hall said.

Two months ago, the business owners turned to an online fundraiser site — Kickstarter — to help raise the funds needed to make the switch. With Kickstarter’s processing fees included, the Halls needed to raise $60,000. However, the all-or-nothing campaign ended Nov. 12 with $20,577 in pledges — a little less than the $45,000 cost of the digital projector equipment itself.

While the cinema itself remains open, Hall said first-run film movies are becoming nearly impossible to get.

“We’ve already been told no about ‘Saving Mr. Banks,’ ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,’ ” she said. Film copies of the movies are still being generated, she said, but “the big theaters get them first.”

“We would then get them four or five weeks out when the larger movieplexes are finished with them,” she said. “By then, nearly everybody has seen the movie.”

Next month, the Halls will explore how to raise the remaining $3,500 to purchase the needed equipment.

“It is our hope and prayer in February we’ll be able to transition over,” she said.

Overall, the process has tested and strengthened the Halls’ faith and outlook.

“We are very optimistic and very encouraged by our community, and not just Hudson,” Hall said. “From Addison to Pittsford and Adrian, people realize the importance of the cinema.

“It’s been humbling go out there to ask for money,” she said. “We believe in working hard to get what we need.”

Donations for the digital conversion project can be sent to the Hudson Cinema at 116 W. Main St., Hudson MI 49247.